Mothers can be an embarrassment and we have all lived through situations when we thought we would actually die. The above picture of me is the same year this happened...I was six years old...can you see my slip??? They were mandatory back then!
Petticoat Junction by Mendy Thompson 11/3/2003
This is not a story about three girls, their mom and Uncle Joe who lived at a train station called Petticoat Junction. This is a true -life story.
When I was in grade school in the early 1960’s, I would walk to Les Brisker’s Sunoco Station about a block up the street to go to the bus stop. A few other kids would gather there and we would play a little, go to the little creek and look at tadpoles, go inside and buy penny candy if we had any money, and just wait for the bus to come. Some of the other kids were Debbie Lou Comer, Dottie Dunn, Tim McGhee, Eddie and Tony Grubb, Paul Brisker, Danny and Steve Evans. So, it was mostly boys.
I was in first grade, it was fall, and it was starting to get chilly outside. Back then girls wore dresses and we were not allowed to wear pants to school unless it was below freezing temperatures. So, I had breakfast then I got my school bag, and little red plaid lunchbox and walked up the street to wait for the bus. I had on a light jacket and knee socks so I was covered pretty well for the weather.
I had just gotten there and was starting to talk to the other kids and have a good time. All of a sudden, I heard my mom’s voice and surprised, I looked up to see her walking very quickly toward the bus stop. I couldn’t imagine why my mother was coming to the bus stop because she had never been there before.
As she approached the street and started to cross it, she said very loudly “You forgot your slip! It’s cold today and you need your slip on”. OH MY GOSH…I could not have been more mortified if I had been standing there buck-naked! But then…get this…she pulls it out of her coat pocket!! The boys all saw my little white slip with the eyelet trim!
She then took my hand and led me across the street to Mildred Corvin’s grocery store. I was like a walking zombie. Mildred let us go into her restroom and Mom proceeded to pull my dress up over my head (“skin a cat”). Then she put the one-piece full slip over my head and put my dress back on me and buttoned the back of it up, all in about 1 minute’s time!
I don’t remember crying, but when you are in shock, you react strangely. Actually, I don’t remember anything else about that day; it is just a haze. But I will never forget the sight of my mother jogging toward the bus stop yelling, “YOU FORGOT YOUR SLIP!”
Petticoat Junction by Mendy Thompson 11/3/2003
